Top Chef Chicago: Stephanie Redeems Herself with a Wedding Cake!

No restaurant wars this season... Instead, we got wedding wars. Two teams, assigned to the bride or groom, created menus — and cakes! — for the actual reception. And Stephanie turned out a stunner. But did it get her the win? Click below to find out.

Also, have you ever seen a monk fish up close?

Is it too early in the morning for that picture?

The quickfire challenge was the relay race, where team members complete a task (one of which usually involves Herculean whisking) and pass off to the next person. Richard and Dale both cleaned and filleted the monk fish, an impressive job. We knew they were ugly, but wow.

On to the wedding... The winning quickfire team chose the bride, who asked for lots of meat-and-potatoes food with a Southern twist. We loved the pulled pork sandwiches and short ribs wrapped in phyllo.

But the real standout was Stephanie's wedding cake. She was brave for taking it on, she finished it in less than a day, and according to the judges, it tasted fantastic. We thought she deserved to win for sheer gumption, and the actual winner, Richard, thought so, too. He declined the win and gave it to Stephanie.

As for the loser, well, we all saw this coming, right? The groom wanted Italian, and Nikki had a chance to hit it out of the park. Instead, she turned out more mediocre dishes and then refused to take responsibility for helming the team. We like Nikki. We might go eat at her restaurant, 24 Prince, in NYC. But this challenge was hers to win, and she didn't rise to it.